Welcome to Swim It
Swim a virtual challenge this October at your pace, and help people living with cancer.
Pick your distance, choose your pool and amaze yourself at how much you can achieve for a great cause. We’ll help keep you motivated as you go, so that even though you’re doing it on your own, you’ll still feel part of the team.
So, whether you swim one mile, seven miles, 22 miles or your own distance, whether you do it in a day, a week or a month, whether you do it in breaststroke, crawl or backstroke, we’ll keep you on track for achieving your goal.
Frequently asked questions
Here are some popular questions we get asked. If you can’t find an answer to your question here, feel free to contact us on 0300 1000 200.
A virtual swimming event for in the month of October. Choose from one of three distances or set your own distance and take part in a challenge, at your own pace, in your own time, at a location you choose. We will support you every step of the journey and ask that you raise vital funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
You can sign up online now at: 'ADD LINK WHEN LIVE' by connecting to or creating a JustGiving account.
If you experiences any difficulties signing up, please email swimming@macmillan.org.uk or call 0300 1000 200 (Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm) for assistance.
No, it is completely free to sign up to Swim IT!
We do ask you to set yourself a fundraising goal and encourage your loved ones to sponsor you. As any money you raise will provide vital funds to support people living with cancer.
The event will run for duration of October, so it would be great if we all start swimming in our own pools then, at your own time and pace. But if it’s more convenient for you, its fine to get ahead of the curve and start earlier.
Yes. You can complete the swim wherever works for you, and you can mix it up. Just remember though, when you sign up, you pick a specific length of a specific pool, so you may have to approximate if you swim in another pool.
The beauty of this event is that you’ll get stronger as you go, but there’s no need for extra training. You’ll be doing it at your own pace, in your own time. There are different distances to choose from so you can find a challenge that suits. If you have any concerns about your health or fitness please speak to your Doctor first.
It’s so motivating to see how far you’ve gone. Not just for you, your supporters can also follow your progress and cheer you on. That’s why we’ve made it extra easy to track your distance through your fundraising page by manually adding your lengths.
Follow these simple instructions:
- Count your lengths manually or purchase a waterproof fitness tracker for swimmers.
- Log in to your fundraising page using your Just Giving sign in details at www.swimit.macmillan.org.uk
- Below the 'My account’ box, you’ll see 'Log Lengths' - click on this.
- Either using the text box or the + and – buttons you can add the number of lengths completed in that session.
- Click ‘save changes’ and this will update your page and tell you how far you have swum in total.
You can alter your distance chosen when singing up, by following these simple instructions:
- Log in to your fundraising page using your Just Giving sign in details at www.swimit.macmillan.org.uk
- Click the ‘edit my page’ button.
- Change your distance to one of the other options or a distance of your choice.
- Click ‘save changes’ and this will update your page.
Everyone taking part needs to sign up individually. But it is fine to do the swim, log laps and fundraise together on one page as a team.
Fundraising FAQs
Your fundraising page is a secure, quick and easy way to get donations and a great way to track your progress.
But if you would rather fundraise in a more traditional way, such as sponsorship forms, that’s also fine. You will receive sponsorship forms in your welcome pack and you can download more from our resource page.
The best way to pay in your cash donations is use the paying-in slip in your fundraising pack we sent out to you. Alternatively you can make a payment from your debit/credit card to your own JustGiving page, but you won’t be able to claim Gift Aid on them.
You can manually add any offline funds raised by following these simple instructions:
- Log in to your fundraising page using your Just Giving sign in details at www.swimit.macmillan.org.uk
- Clicking the ‘edit my page’ button
- Adding the amount raised offline.
- Click ‘save changes’ and the offline funds will then be shown as part of your total raised.
By setting up your JustGiving page you'll be able to invite friends and family to sponsor you by sending them a link to that page.
We'll also send you a fundraising pack to help you get started, send regular emails with top tips and have tons of advice and resources for our dedicated fundraisers on our website.
When setting up your Just Giving page you will have chosen a password - don’t worry if you've forgotten it!
You can check your emails from Just Giving to retrieve your login details, or head to the Just Giving Help & Support page for help logging into your account.
Gift Aid is a great opportunity for donors to make their voluntary donations to Macmillan worth 25% more – without spending an extra penny. It enables charities like us to claim the basic tax that donors have paid on their donations back from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
If every supporter agreed to Gift Aid it would raise hundreds of thousands of pounds more to support people affected by cancer.
To be eligible to add Gift Aid to your donation you must be a UK taxpayer and you must have paid or will pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for the current tax year (6 April to 5 April) that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) that you donate to will reclaim on my gifts for the current tax year. Other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify. The charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that you have given.
We value all our fundraisers and as a gesture of our thanks, we have created a Fundraising Rewards Programme, full of exclusive swimming goodies you can earn when hitting the following fundraising targets:
£29 a Macmillan swimming cap
£100 a Macmillan locker coin key-ring
£200 a Macmillan swimming badge
£350 a Macmillan water bottle
£750 a Macmillan towel
If you would prefer to opt out of receiving our rewards programme, please email swimming@macmillan.org.uk/.
Please find the full terms and conditions here.
Yes, absolutely. The beauty of a JustGiving page is that you can accept donations from friends and family all over the world.
If you change your mind about hearing from us, you can stop receiving our updates at any time by emailing fundraising@macmillan.org.uk or calling 0300 1000 200. Please see our privacy statement for more information.
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